Earlier this week, Chipotle’s beautiful and haunting ‘Scarecrow’ ad won the Cannes PR award. In case you don’t recall the ad Chipotle released last fall, let me refresh your memory.

The ad gained popularity after its release because of its subtle stunning graphics, its powerful message about factory farming, the use of Fiona Apple’s version of the song “Pure Imagination” from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” and the fact that it didn’t mention Chipotle until the very end of the ad. Released at the same time was an accompanying free video game app for children where they could help the Scarecrow rescue farm animals.

According to the Cannes rules, the PR award is given for “creative use of reputation management by the building and preservation of trust and understanding between individuals, businesses or organizations and their publics and audiences.”

Chipotle seems to be good at this creative PR stuff. In 2012, they took highest honor in the same category for the “Back to the Start” ad that ran on online, in movie theaters, and was the first Chipotle ad to run nationally. That ad used a wonderful version of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” sung by Willie Nelson and ran during The Grammy Awards, right after Coldplay was on stage.

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